Life is A Faerie Tale
by AysuOfTheMoonlitWater
Summary: Katherine Stone grew up on the old faerie-tales. The ones without the happily ever after, where the princesses die or go blind, where the princes were turned into swans or raised as conceded brats. Life was like a faerie-tale; horrible and unfair. But when she travels to Pandora with best friend Jake Sully, Kat's outlook on faerie tales, and life, may just change.
1. Prologue

**New story alert lovely readers! Been working on this one the past few days and I am halfway done. So it should probably get finished. To all of you who are reading Spark of Hope, sorry for the delay, my muse just up and left for Cybertron. Pretty sure she'll come back in June to watch the new movie with me. I do not own Avatar or anything one may find on the Avatar Wiki. All the other bullshit is, unfortunately, mine. ;)**

* * *

Katherine Stone grew up on the old faerie-tales. The ones without the happily ever after, where the princesses die or go blind, where the princes were turned into swans or raised as conceded brats. Life _was_ like a faerie-tale; horrible and unfair.

That's what she thought when her boyfriend of four years lost his ability to walk in Venezuela. That's what she thought when he then broke up with her because 'Kat could do better than a worthless cripple'.

That's what Kat thought when one of her best friends was knifed down for the money in his wallet. Not that Tommy had any, he had been mooching off of Jake and Kat for as long as the three knew each other. Which was a pretty long time considering Tom and Jake were twins, and Kat the annoying next door neighbor who followed the brothers around until they finally decided to like her.

_'Life is a faerie-tale'_ had essentially become Kat's motto.

Jake and Kat had made peace from the brake-up years before. It was his shoulder Kat cried on during Tommy's funeral. It was his apartment Kat took over when she couldn't handle the silence of her own, surrounded by the empty possessions of her former roommate. And it will be with him Kat will travel five light-years in space to a moon called Pandora. Tommy was so excited for this mission, but now, as the genetically identical twin, Jake will take his place. It's not that Kat was mad Jake was coming instead of Tommy, but she couldn't help but wish it was all three them making the journey.

They say in cryo you don't dream. Kat didn't wholly believe that little fact. She wouldn't call it dreaming exactly, but she knew something happened. And she knew, somehow, someway, she needed to remember what that something was.


	2. Chapter One

**Because the prologue was just a short little snippet, and really did nothing but tell you Kat used to have sex with Jake, I'm posting the first chapter now. Don't own Avatar, yada yada yada, y'all get it.  
Onward!**

* * *

Kat woke to a crazed beeping in her ears and a floating ball of drool suspended in front of her nose. Not exactly how a girl wants to start her six year term on a foreign planet. Not exactly how a girl wanted to start an anything anywhere, really.

One of the many nurses was already floating above Kat when her little cryo-coffin extended. He stationed himself by bracing his feet against the light while shinning his own penlight into Kat's eyes before floating to the next person. A groggy "Are we there yet?" came from the same direction the nurse disappeared to.

"We're here sunshine."

Undoing the straps keeping Kat from drifting away was a tad bit harder then she previously anticipated. Jake had to eventually come over to rescue her, and together they air-swam over to their lockers, alphabetically placed side by side.

Stone, K

Sully, T

"You have been in cryo for five years, nine months, and 22 days. You will be hungry and you will be weak. If you feel nauseous, please use the bags provided." The two friends chuckled at the announcement; there was no chance of an up-chucking from them, not with almost six years of an empty stomach. In reality, all Kat wanted to do was sleep. Inside the lockers was the afore promised sack, an overnight bag holding onto a change of clothes, a few granola bars, and a box of orange juice.

After a few small bites of her granola bar, Kat lost her appetite for dehydrated wheat, tossing what was left to Jake and retreating into one of the tiny alcoves transformed into changing rooms. Scrubs were not fun. Changing from scrubs to jeans in a tiny space with zero-gravity was even less fun. Eventually, Kat made it work, switched with Jake, and then enjoyed his muffled yelps while waiting for the boarding call. The starship had no windows, though the Valkyrie had two, one on each side. Unfortunately, when the call to board came there was such a mad rush it was difficult for Kat and Jake to stay together, let alone get a chance for either of them to sneak a peek at their new home.

Kat timed the shuttle entering Pandora's atmosphere at ten minutes before it leveled out to descend to the ground slowly. The perfect time for the assistant pilot to make his way down the aisles, screaming at everyone to put on exo-packs and yelling warnings about what happens without them. Unconscious in 20 seconds, dead in four minutes. He tacked on something about death not looking good on his report at the end, but was otherwise pretty much ignored.

The jolt from hitting dirt almost sent Kat flying into the floor. It probably would have helped if she had been strapped to the seat when the Valkyrie touched down, but her excitement was too much to handle sitting still.

"Harnesses off!" Kat was a bit ahead on that one. "Get your packs! Let's go, let's go! Directly to the base! Do not pass go! Do not collect $200!"

It was mayhem to get in line. When the ramp came down, Kat couldn't see past the back of the person she stood behind, her view blocked by all the bulging muscles. The humidity hit like a wave, a visible difference between the breathable human air and the air wafting in from Pandora. Some were bouncing on their toes, so eager to get out they were liable to explode any second.

"Go! Go! Go! Let's go!"

The line surged forward. This was it. This was Pandora. Earth at it's very beginning. This was…human destruction at its finest. Kat stopped dead at the end of the ramp, baffled at what lay before her. She came expecting forest and animals and green. Not concrete and gray, with trees barely seen in the hazy distance. She stood there, mouth wide open and fuming, until Jake came flying down the ramp. He slammed into the back of Kat's legs, the force of his momentum sending his friend crashing into his lap. "Jake!"

"Hey, you're the one who stopped, Kitty. Come on, we have a briefing to get to." They moved forward slowly, before Jake found his gait with the wheels. And the extra weight.

"Jaaake! I can walk! And your knees are boney!" Kat wiggled in his one armed embrace. Jake just chuckled, like the little bastard his is. Even one armed and distracted by moving, Kat was no match for the larger Marine. Finally, he loosened his hold enough Kat could break away and walk on her own; Right into the path of a giant metal man-suit.

"I thought you said you could walk."

"Shut up Jake."

The second thing to stop the two person march was a yellow dump truck, three times the size of ones on Earth, RDA printed on its side and arrows as long as Kat was tall protruding from the tires.

"Woo-hoo boys! Would you look at that. Meals on wheels."

"And one hot babe!"

"Hey baby! Why don't I show you how a real man gets it done?" Kat rolled her eyes at the stupidity. And here she hoped she had left idiots like that salivating back on Earth.

Jake seemed to have heard the three men as well, immediately bristling at the defense of his best friend. "What are you limp dicks staring at?" The two could feel their eyes as they entered the caged path leading to the door. Out of nowhere a black and blue riti, or stingbat, slammed into the 'wall'. It attacked with its red stinger, a stinger that was thankfully out of reach. One of the previous men pulled his gun and fired at the creature, three shots until it fell, hissing, then motionless.

"Why did you kill it?! It couldn't even reach us, you dimwit!" Kat screamed. The shooter couldn't be bothered to even spare the woman a glance at her outburst. He instead turned to Jake and leaned down to speak directly in his ear, "I've seen a lot of men leave in wheelchairs, but I've never seen one arrive."

* * *

"-kill you and eat your eyes for Jujubes." That sounded pleasant. Kat and Jake quickly found a spot at one of the many tables and tuned into the rest of the briefing. Or more accurately, Jake tuned in while Kat dosed off against his shoulder, blanking out somewhere around 'carbon fiber'.

Jake shook her awake after the briefing was over. They exited the cafeteria together, into the hallway. Kat decided to let Jake have the lead this time, since she had the habit of getting lost anywhere, even a bathroom once. That, and she didn't know where the hell they were supposed to go anyway.

"Jake! Hey Jake!" The two friends turned to see a gangly form forcing its way through the mass of bodies, trying to catch up. "You're Tom's brother right? You look just like him."

"Yeah, that's me." Jake held out his hand, "Jake Sully." The newcomer returned the shake.

"Norm Spellman. Hey Kat."

Kat nodded. "Norm. Long time, no see. It has been six years you know." Norm rolled his eyes and grinned at the sad attempt at humour.

"Kat, Tom, and I went through Avatar training together." The little group had now stopped in the middle of the hall. Looks of all kinds were shot at them as the people had to split one way or the other to make it through. "He was a great guy. Funny. It was…a shock…to all of us."

"Uh-huh."

Kat stiffened at the tense look on Jake's face, sure her own reflected the same image. Neither of them was comfortable with the way the conversation had turned. So she tried to stir it into clearer waters. "So Norm, because I'm sure you have the maps memorized by now…where are the Avatars?"

"You're right! Let's go check them out!"

* * *

"So this is the bio lab. Let's see…link room over here…"

The bio lab was a huge room, surrounded by glass and filled with machines. As Norm continued to talk, Kat followed the waving blue lines on the wall to a corner of the large room, where three large tanks standing side by side where holding three equally large beings. "Oh, Eywa," she whispered, awestruck by the floating forms. A dark haired, dark skinned, shorter man came up on one side of Kat, followed closely by Norm and Jake on her other.

"Welcome to Pandora." He held out a hand to each of them in turn to shake. "Good to have you. I'm Dr. Max Patel."

"Norm Spellman."

"Kat Stone."

"Jake Sully. Damn! They got big."

Max chuckled. "Yeah, they fully mature on the flight out."

"The Proprioceptive Sims seem to be working well." Norm commented. "They've got great muscle tone."

"Yeah," Max said. "Jake, that's yours over there. Kat, yours is pretty obvious." He got a backhanded slap for that comment.

Jake rolled over to the floating form, staring at the familiar face, eyebrows furrowed as if there was some puzzle to solve. "Looks just like Tommy." Kat dropped a hand on his shoulder and squeezed as Norm shook his head.

"No, it looks like you. It's your avatar now." Norm was trying to help, that much was obvious, but it was also obvious he had never dealt with death or how greatly it affected people. One more squeeze and then Kat turned to study her own avatar.

Her body was long and lean, tapering at the waist, only to flare out again at the hips, muscles visibly rippling under the skin. A blue tail curled around her leg and dark strips decorated her entire body. Full lips and a flattened nose, pointed ears and even though her eyes were still closed, Kat knew they would be bigger and rounder than. Her black hair was collected in a long braid to provide safety to her sensitive queue and gently floating in the ambotic-like fluid.

"Damn Kitty. You've been working out."

"Stop gawking, Jake."

"What? It's nothing I haven't seen before."

"My new body, my rules. Now shoo." Kat physically pushed Jake away, laughing as he rolled into Norm, who was still admiring his own avatar. The three newbies hung out for another hour or so, wondering the lab as each dictated their personal video logs. Jake was the least enthusiastic of the group, constantly complaining if the log was even necessary.

"Good observation is good science Jakey. Just a few more minutes and we'll go see the boss."

"I still think it's stupid."

"Well, I still think you're stupid." Jake stuck his tongue out at his best friend before turning back to the camera. She happily retaliated with the same gesture. Another ten minutes and Jake turned off the camera. All three followed Max into the link room next door. Even bigger than the bio lab, the link room contained multiple link units all lined up in a row surrounded all the very expensive equipment used to temporarily transfer the driver's minds.

One of the units to the left slowly opened, out popping a very disgruntled voice and a head of bright red hair. "Where is my goddamn cigarette?"

"And here she is! Cinderella, back from the ball." Max announced, leading everyone to the redhead. "Grace, this is Norm Spellman, Kat Stone, and Jake Sully."

"Norm, I hear good things about you. And Kat, our very own Zoologist. How's your Na'vi?"

"May the All Mother smile upon our first meeting." Norm said, touching three fingers to his forehead.

Kat repeated the gesture saying, "I see you, Dr. Augustine. Let Eywa grace us with her wisdom this day."

"Not bad. A little formal, but that'll pass."

"Grace?" Max squeezed in. "This is Jake Sully." Jake held out his hand for the introduction. If nothing else, manners were definitely drilled into his thick skull by his momma.

Grace glanced at the appendage and sighed. "I know who you are and I don't need you. I need your brother." Jake's hand dropped. "You know, the PhD who trained for three years to come here?"

He glared the scientist down, refusing to look away as he said, "He's dead. I know it's a big inconvenience for everyone, but I'm all you've got." Grace looked away first.

"How much lab training have you had?"

"I dissected a frog once."

Grace let out a near growl, snapping and throwing her arms in the air. Even with the anger mounting in her boss, Kat couldn't help but grin at Jake's comeback. _Smartass_

"See?! They're pissing on us without the decency of calling it rain. I'm going to Selfridge." The woman stormed out of the room, hell bent on giving hell. Kat was intensely glad it wasn't directed at her. Grace was scary.

Max watched helplessly as Grace disappeared around the corner before turned back to the new recruits. "0800 tomorrow. Use big words."


	3. Chapter Two

**Okay! That was confusing! Somehow I posted two Chapter 3's and completely skipped chapter 2. Fixing that up right now! And thank you jamie0360 for bringing it to my attetnion!**

**This is the real Chapter 2**

* * *

The next morning was a rushed affair. Kat was up and in the shower by 0600, clean and dressed by 0630. She left her hair down to air dry, the blonde ends curling the longer she was dry. She worked to wake Jake, always a 20 minute job, which took even longer that morning. Because someone wanted to explore all night until Kat was asleep on her feet following him. She ended up taking away his blanket and pillow and when that didn't even get a response she pulled him from the bed. The whack on the head from her bed, it was a pretty small room for such a big place, got Jake moving, albeit at the pace of a slug.

The two got to the mess hall for breakfast just in time to save the last few sausages and rubbery eggs from the garbage. They sat in the seats next to Norm and shoveled down the food so everyone could make it to the link room on time.

"Don't look at me like that Norm or next time I'll make you wake him." Norm's smirk dropped quick, remembering all the times he was late to class because Tommy slept like the dead. Once Jake ate the last forkful, having gone back to beg for seconds, the three rushed to the link room, thankfully arriving before Grace. Even if they were late, which they were, she'd never know.

"So how much link time have you logged?" Grace questioned, leading Norm to his link unit.

"About 520 hours." Norm replied, lying in his unit. Grace nodded and looked to Kat.

Kat shrugged, trying to hide a sheepish grin behind her hand. "I never really kept track." She quickly hopped in her unit to get out of the line of fire.

Grace rolled her eyes before turning to Jake. "You're here Marine. How much time have you logged?"

"I read a manual once." Jake said, poking at the green gel 'mattress'.

Whatever reply Grace made was cut off by the closing of Kat's link unit, though she could imagine it wasn't something happy. The gel 'mattress' was comfortable enough, easily letting Kat's body sink into the material making it easy to relax and let her mind go blank. Soon enough a bright spectrum of colours flashed behind her closed eyelids, creating a small vortex before going black again.

When she opened her eyes, everything blurry and bright, causing her to close her eyes again. Blinking a few times, two doctors slowly came into view, wearing exo-pacts and leaning over her prone form. One snapped her fingers near Kat's ear while the other shone a small penlight in her eyes. "Can you hear me Kat?"

Kat nodded, "Loud and clear."

"Good. How are you feeling?"

"Perfect." The doctors allowed Kat to slowly sit up and talked her through different tests. They had her move different muscle groups first. To her left Norm was wiggling his toes and to her right Jake was just coming through.

"Can you touch your thumbs to your fingers Kat?"

"Yup. That's fine." Kat absentmindedly preformed the action, most of her attention on Jake. He was currently sitting up and…he was moving his feet. "Oh my Eywa…"

Jake immediately threw his legs over the side of the cot and stood up. It was wobbly as hell, but he was still standing. After 5 years of rolling, Jake could finally fell his own feet beneath him again. Kat's mouth dropped open in amazement as she stared at her best friend. All the doctors had turned their attention to Jake now, trying to sit him down, yelling about unfinished tests.

"Jake!" Kat was finally able to gasp out.

He grinned at his legs. "I know!" Suddenly he whipped around, chasing his new tail. Kat had to keep ducking, laughing every time it came her way. The doctors started to do more than yell when Jake removing the multiple wires connecting him to different machines and heading for the door. One yelled to sedate him, pulling out a pretty big needle out for the job.

Laughing joyously, Kat scrambled to her feet as well, following in her best friends footsteps. She vaguely registered Norm doing the same, more intent on getting outside than what the other scientist was doing.

The sun was bright enough to cause her to stumble, blinking repeatedly as she brought a hand up to shield her eyes from the relentless rays. Wobbling past two avatars playing basketball, at least they were before the newbies came stumbling out a random door, Kat caught up to Jake and threw her arms around his waist, nearly bring down the both of them.

"Kitty! I'm walking!"

She nodded, ecstatic. "You're walking!" The two friends locked hands and spun around a few times, more or less preforming a drunken waltz. Sharing a glance, they both bolted for the training course, stumbling until they found the rhythm of their new bodies. Norm was a ways behind, yelling about how it was too soon to run.

While Kat was no match for Jake's strength, she had always been faster than the broad-shouldered Marine. Pouring on the speed, she vaulted into the garden, laughing as Jake had to dodge another metal man to keep up. Caught in her new freedom, Kat forgot about the new addition of her tail that, while great for balance, definitely sucked while playing chase. Jake grabbed it mid-swing, pulling Kat to a sudden stop and tackling her to the ground. Smirking, he stood, pulling Kat to her feet as well, and dug his toes into the warm dirt.

"Hey Marine!"

Jake jerked his head up, muttering a 'damn' under his breath. Coming towards them was a female avatar. She was dressed modernly, in a tank and shorts, with beads decorating her hair.

"Grace?"

"Well, who'd you expect, numbnuts?" Grace pulled a purple fruit from the bush next to her and chucked it at Jake. "Think fast."

Moving quickly, Kat darted in front of the male and snatched the projectile from the air. Winking at her best friend, she bit deep into the food. She groaned when the juice hit her tongue, the taste sweet and tart at the same time, a combination of a least a dozen different fruits on Earth. Jake wrestled the fruit away from Kat, taking an even bigger bite, purple juice staining his chin. The two continued to fight over the purple food until it was gone, purple juice making them both very purple and very sticky.

Grace laughed. "Motor skills are looking good."

"Hey! Hey guys!" Kat and Jake turned around to see Norm had finally caught up and was standing a few feet away, flexing his newly found muscles. "I am a god!"

"Hey god, your ass is hanging out!"

* * *

By the time night fell, the three newbies were too pooped to pop. After the chat with Grace in the garden, the head scientist had gotten everyone some clothing, of the ass cover verity, and had instantly sent them through the training course. Over and over and over until they were completely comfortable in their new bodies.

Kat was lying prone on her cot in the avatar shack watching Jake mess with his queue. He was memorized by the wiggling pink tendrils hidden in the braid. Kat was tempted to tell him exactly what those tendrils were for, just to see his face, but decided it would be 10 times better when Grace caught him at it.

"Don't play with that, you'll go blind." Said woman commented. Kat was right in waiting, Jake's eyes widened as he quickly dropped the braid. He lay back as well, trying to find a placement for the potentially blinding braid. Kat was having fun watching him wiggle around.

"Freaky."

"Lights out! I'll see you at dinner kiddos."

Kat let her eyes close and relaxed her mind to travel back through the coloured vortex and back to her human body. Lifting the lid, she sat up slowly, readjusting to the shorter stature. Jake was already rolling towards her, a mixture of disappointment and longing on his face. Kat gave him a sad smile before accepting his outstretched hand to balance her hop down.

Jake was already up and out of their room by the time Kat woke the next day. If that wasn't weird enough by itself, he also never showed for breakfast, which is just unheard of. That boy never missed a chance at food. She dismissed it remembering the meeting he was supposed to have that morning, maybe it went longer than expected. She went ahead with her link up, knowing they'd meet up on the other side.

Turns out he was already there, checking his gun and pack. Kat gave him a passing hug before going to work on her own pack. Grace and Norm packed multiple scanners and sample containers, all things needed for the gripping study of plants. Kat smirked, adding a few more sample jars to her own pack and zipping it up tight.

Loading into the Samson 16 with another solider and Trudy behind the wheel and took off to the forests for the first stop of the day. Riding in the Samson 16 was the perfect way to see Pandora for the first time and Trudy made it ten times better, dipping close to the water and flying with different flocks of Pandoran animals. Norm almost fell out of the Samson 16 a few times from leaning out too far and Kat had a permanent grip on Jake's arm, listing off different names of each animal they came across as fast as she could and still pronounce everything correctly.

When they finally touched down in a clearing, everyone hopped out quick enough, Jake and the solider waving their guns around, Grace telling Trudy to shut down the Samson 16, Norm and Kat gazing around them in awe.

"Norm, your pack."

"Pack. Right."

A few minutes later Grace, Norm, and Kat were walking through the undergrowth, Jake bringing up the rear. They continued on to a rundown shack littered with leaves and wooden blocks. Grace looked sad to be there, wherever there was.

"So, what about the natives? How will they know we're here?"

"I'm sure their watching us right now Marine." This caused both Norm and Jake to look up at the trees nervously. "This was our school…storage now"

Kat bent to pick a dusty book up off the floor. "The Lorax! I used to read this all the time…"

"You mean you used to make Tommy and I read it too you all the time." Jake and Kat smiled at the memory as Grace took the book from her.

"Damn stingbats keep knocking them down." Grace loaded Norm with Ph monitors as Jake wondered the shack. Gently, he ran his fingers over holes in the door before turning back to the scientist.

"What happened here?"

"Are you going to help us with this gear?" Grace quickly changed the subject, eyes downcast and sad. Jake took the offered boxes and headed back out into the forest.

"Whatd'ya need me to do?"

Grace handed Kat a smaller orange box. "Take this soil probe and go after your buddy. We don't need his trigger-happy ass getting lost." Kat mock saluted her before hurrying after her best friend. Sighting him at the edge of the trees repacking his bag to accommodate the new boxes she ran for his unprotected back. Jumping in the air silently, Kat expertly landed on his back, quickly locking her arms around his throat to prevent retaliation throws.

"Kitty, what're you doing?" He laughed, tugging on her tail wrapped around his leg.

"You haven't given me a piggy-back ride in years! Come on!"

"Fine. Let go so I can put on my pack." Kat venomously shook her head no. If she let go now, he would never let her back on. Instead she wiggled until she was settled comfortably with the pack between their bodies. Jake sighed, but stood up anyway, shifting the gun in his arms.

15 more minutes of walking and Grace called for a stop. Kat slid of off Jake's back and everyone started unloading the orange boxes taken from the old school. Once Grace and Norm were situated on a giant root, Kat hooked her camera around her neck and headed in the opposite direction from the kneeling scientists. Jake followed her into the forest, gun trained at the foliage.

They came across strange orange flora first. The plants rose in spirals from the ground, going from a height under their knees to towering above their heads. Jake hesitantly reached out and touched the edge of one, jumping back in surprise as it folding in on itself with a 'whoovp'ing sound. Kat giggled behind her hand before toughing a plant on her side. Together they forced the plants into hiding, their laughing getting louder with each 'whoovp'. When the entirety of flowers hide at once, the two turned to the trumpeting noise behind them.

Kat raised her camera in delight, "It's an angtsik, Jake!" Jake just looked at her in confusion. "Humans call him a Hammerhead Titanothere. Just stay low and we won't bother him, but I am defiantly getting notes."

Kat began slowly crawling towards the large creatures, keeping low and quiet. After snapping a few different pictures of the herd, she pulled out her note pad and began to scribble furiously.

"Kat," Jake hissed. "Kat! Get back here!" His raised voice unfortunately alerted their presence to the bull angsik. The bull moved a little away from the herd and roared his head feathers in an attempt to scare the threat away. When Jake and Kat just stood there, Kat still copying every observation down, he roared again, a little louder.

The roaring caught the attention of Grace and Norm, who quickly noticed the absence of two of their members. When they came to the scene, the Hammerhead Titanothere was pawing at the ground, ready to charge, and Jake training his gun on the creature. Kat was trying to pull his arm down yelling 'don't shoot', her note pad and camera lying forgotten on the ground next to them.

Grace touched the com at her throat. "Don't shoot. You'll just piss him off." The angtsik knocked his head against the trees, knocking them to the ground in pieces.

"He's already pissed off."

"Jake!" Kat tugged on his arm again. "His armor is too thick. It'll just hurt him!"

"Well we can't just stand here waiting to be trampled, Kitty!"

"Calm down Jake." Grace said. "This is a territorial threat display. Run and he'll charge."

"What do you want me to do? Dance with it?" Dancing was not required; with one last roar, the angtsik charged forward. Jake ran forward as well, screaming and waving his hands to appear bigger. When the angtsiik turned heal and retreated, Jake counted it as a victory, whooping and generally bad mouthing the creature.

"Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. Bitch."

A growling interrupted his untimely victory dance. Whipping around, Jake brought up his gun and at the sight of the hulking black animal, pulled Kat to somewhat safety behind his back. "What's this one?"

"Palulukan" She whispered, clutching his shirt tighter in her fists.

"Okay, so what do I do? Shoot? Don't Shoot? What?!" Kat bolted in the opposite direction, tugging Jake with her.

"Run! Defiantly run!" She screamed.


	4. Chapter Three

**Since everyone is pretty much hunkered down from the snow, and I personally and very cauious to leave my house, I will give you this chapter to curb the boredom. Who else saw the Oscars last night? I was so rooting for Leo, but alas, foiled again. Next year has to be his year!**

* * *

The palulukan pounced effortlessly, clearing 6 meters in one bound. Jake and Kat ran through the trees, stumbling over random bushes and roots. Bamboo-like trees held up the palulukan and were the only reason the two were still alive and not dinner. Seeing a giant tree, Jake pushed Kat into the roots before diving after her himself. They scrambled as far back as they could as the palulukan pushed its head through the small openings, snapping at their kicking feet. Jake got a few shots in before the palulukan pulled the gun away with its teeth, effectively leaving them defenseless. It was run or die now.

They crawled from the broken roots, only able to run a few meters before the palulukan was on them again. The sleek animal tossed Jake up with his paw, then snapped its Jaws around Jake's pack. It shook him back and forth quickly, similar to how a tiger on Earth would kill its prey.

"Your pack, Jake!" Kat screamed, "Unhook your pack!" Jake did and slipped through the straps, landing next to Kat. He rolled, grabbed her hand, and took off. The palulukan was distracted by the pack, thinking it had captured its dinner. By the time realized the trick, Jake and Kat were feet away from a cliff.

"Jake!"

"Jump!"

They jumped just as the palulukan reached them. Kat could feel the wind from the snap of its jaws. Breathing deeply and straightening her arms, Kat dived into the water seconds after Jake. The swift moving water carried her downstream quickly. She flipped multiple times under the water before she could claw her way back to the surface.

"Jake!" She coughed, looking around for her best friend. The water pushed her back down again and she inhaled water from the sudden dunk. She grabbed for a log back on the surface and was able to slow down long enough to get a better hold of a vine hanging from a tree. Holding on until she could breathe normal again, Kat looked around her for some sign of Jake or the palulukan. No creature, but also no best friend with survival training.

_Oh, shit._

Kat fought her way to semi-dry ground, collapsing once she got there. She took in deep lungful's of air, listening for anything that could help. The forest was silent and the light was fading. Coughing again, she slowly stood and made her way into the trees.

* * *

Kat's first priority was the long scratch on her shin. It wasn't deep, and the water cleaned it well enough, but if she didn't cover it with something it was bound to get infected. She removed her safari-style shirt and ripped it strips, leaving her in a thin tank top, than tied the strips together to form makeshift bandages. They were also clean enough from the water and long enough to cover the abrasion. The next order was food. She knew some edible plants and luckily, most grew near water. Once she had collected enough to last her a few days and wrapped them securely in the rest of her shirt, she headed deeper into the forest in search of shelter.

A fire was useless in the bioluminance of the forest, doing nothing but alerting predators to her presence. It was easy enough to see as the trees and plants slowly lit up around Kat. She tried to stay within hearing distance of the river, a sure place for water. Hopefully the avatar body had enough native DNA that the water wouldn't cause any displeasures. Finally, Kat collapsed against some roots protruding from the ground, absolutely exhausted. She munched on some fruit while trying to think of some way out of this mess. Lost in a foreign forest, little to no survival training, no Jake to be seen, and the night was getting colder. It was safe to say Kat was screwed.

Sighing, Kat rested her head against the root behind her. She was gazing at the few stars visible hopelessly when a soft white light to her right caught her attention. Floating slowly to her were at least 20 small, white, creatures. They were a cross between dandelion seeds and jellyfish, floating gracefully in the air. Kat laughed in delight when she realized what exactly was coming towards her. Atokirina'. Seeds from the Tree of Souls. Pure spirits sacred to the Na'vi. She never thought she would be able to seen any and suddenly wished she still had her camera to capture this moment.

Gradually, the seeds came to rest on Kat's outstretched arms and head. Some even clung to her torso. The delicate tentacles tickled her exposed skill and she couldn't help but giggled with each small movement of the beautiful creatures. Suddenly, all the Atokirina' pushed away, rising in a white cloud of light. A rustling in the bushes alerted Kat to what had scared the Atokirina' and she tensed visibly, glancing around for some sort of weapon. She grasped the closest thing she had, one of the larger pieces of fruit next to her.

When a blue form walked out of the shadows, Kat quickly chucked the projectile, hitting the form in the shoulder. Before Kat could grab another fruit, another form emerged from the darkness beside her, pointing the tip of a very sharp arrow in her face.

_"Um…hello…uh…I See you friends."_

The arrow came closer to Kat's skin. _"We are not friends to Sky People."_ The first form hissed. It sounded very male. _"You will come. Now."_

Kat rose slowly, making no sudden movements that could seem threatening to the two Na'vi. When she was standing the second form switched his bow for a knife and grasped her queue firmly, the coolness of the blade resting between her neck and braid. He pushed her forward, urging her to jog ahead of them. They stopped some minutes away, coming up to a large group of Na'vi, some sitting on Pa'li, others standing in a loose circle around the mounted hunters. Kat gulped as she was pushed into the middle of the males.

"_Ikalu! Kusati! What is this?"_ One male yelled, glaring heatedly at the female amongst his men.

_"This female was visited by Atokirina'. The spirits chose to rest on her."_ The capture on Kat's left replied. The leader, from the look of it, studied Kat from his seat on the Pa'li. Eventually he scoffed, turning his mount away and calling over his shoulder. _"Then you will bring her to the Tsahik. We leave!"_ Together the men moved through the forest, the two captures in the back, dragging Kat along.

* * *

The group had been walking for close to 30 minutes when the leader signaled for them to split off, the riders going one way and the walking another. Kat was kept with the leader, her two captures tightening their hold on her arms and queue. One male brought out a strange rope contraption that he threw in the general direction the other men disappeared to. A muffled yell and thump signaled the riding group to surge forward.

The Na'vi males were surrounding Jake on the forest floor, weapons out and pointed at Kat's best friend. She choked on a gasp. "Jake!"

One sharp pull on her queue silenced her, but Jake had heard the call anyway. "Kitty! What are you doing to her!?"

A Na'vi woman jumped down from the tree above, turning to face each of the men surrounding her and Jake. _"Calm people. Calm."_ Then she looked straight at the leader. _"What are you doing with the girl, Tsu'tey?"_

_ "Eywa has sent a sign."_

_ "Then they are both a matter for the Tsahik." _Two other Na'vi men grabbed Jake, placing him in a similar position as Kat. She smiled sadly at her best friend. She knew Jake was lost on the language and had no idea they were about to go face to face with the two leaders of the Na'vi. This could be bad.

The, now slightly bigger, group headed towards a flickering light in the far distance. It didn't take long before they were walking among more Na'vi, each of them pushing at others and reaching to touch the two dreamwalkers being brought into their home. The first Na'vi female stepped forward, touching her fingers to her forehead, _"Father, I see you."_

The male in front of her was highly decorated in red and gold feathers, to bones framing his chest. Sharp teeth formed a necklace and a headband of red and blue held back his braided hair. _"Why did you bring these creatures here?"_

_ "I was going to kill him, father, but there was a sign from Eywa."_

_ "I have said no dreamwalker will come here. Their alien stink fills my nose." _The Na'vi around them laughed at the insult. Jake leaned forward to whisper in Kat's ear.

"What are they saying?"

"Nothing good. Their leader want's to kill us."

"Leader?" Jake stepped forward, holding out his hand. "It's good to meet-" Kat and five Na'vi grabbed at him, holding him back from their leader. Jake slowly put his hand down. "What did I do…" he muttered.

A sharp voice came from above them, ordering everyone to step back. Kat and Jake looked up to see an older Na'vi female descending from the tree. She had a shawl made of red and yellow bead and her queue was braiding in front of her body. Leather cords hung from a headband, holding some sort of container at chest level. She slowly stalked forward to stand in front of the best friends.

"This is mother. She is _Tsahik_. One who interprets the will of Eywa." The Tsahik slowly walked around the two, picking up their tails and running their queue braids through her hands. When she stopped in front of Jake, she took a sharpened bone from the holder at her chest and quickly poked his shoulder. She ran the blood across her tongue, looking deep into Jakes eyes. Then she did the same to Kat.

"What are you called?"

"Jake Sully and she's Kat Stone."

"Why did you come here?"

"We came to learn, Tsahik." Kat said. The Tsahik turned her attention to the woman.

"We have tried to teach Sky People before. You cannot fill a cup that is already full."

"Hey, my cup is empty. Just ask Kitty. I'm no scientist."

Kat snorted. "Very empty." Jake nudged her with his elbow, trying not to grin.

"What are you?"

"He's a…warrior of the…Jarhead Clan. I study animals and their habitats."

The warrior from before, Tsu'tey, yelled from next to the leader. _"I could take him easily!"_ The leader put a restraining hand on his warrior's chest, holding him back from the wanted fight.

_"This is the first warrior dreamwalker. We must learn more about him and his female."_ Kat blushed lightly at the description of her by the leader, glad when the Tsahik spoke up again.

_"My daughter, you will teach them our way, to speak and walk as we do, to live in balance with the forest." _Her daughter voice her opinion in an almost growl. The Tsahik turned back to Jake and Kat. _"It is decided. My daughter will teach you to be Na'vi. Learn well Jakesully, Katstone, and we will see if your insanity can be cured." _Jake nodded, not meeting the shaman's eyes. Her daughter grabbed their wrists and led them down under the tree. She entered a medium cave like room filled with fabrics of different colours. Sorting through the different piles, she handed Jake a simple brown loincloth. She handed Kat a similar clothes piece plus a loose leather necklace adorned sparsely with small brown feathers. Being in the lowest status of the clan, they were not allowed to wear any adornments. Then she stared at them, arms crossed.

Sharing a look, Jake and Kat began striping, dropping their old clothes in a pile to be reused later. It took quite a bit of adjusting, and Kat got tangled a few times in the straps, but they were finally dressed to Na'vi standards. Then the Tsahik's daughter took them to another room and rebandaged their wounds with leaves, after smoothing on a thick paste taken from a clay jar.

They followed her back up the stairs and into the clearing. Jake kept picking at his loincloth, not stopping until Kat smacked his wounded arm. He hissed at her and walked a little faster, managing to step on a Na'vi's tail in the process. The Tsahik's daughter pushed them both into a crouch and left to get food for them all. Jake turned to the two Na'vi on his left. "Hey, how you doing?"

The little girl smiled at the strange dreamwalkers, but her father pulled her behind him and gestured to eat her food. Kat smiled at the scene and the curiosity bursting from the young Na'vi.

The female Na'vi returned with three rolled leaves and handed one to both Jake and Kat. They muttered their thanks and unrolled the leaf to revel a strange white food. Shrugging, Kat took a big bite of the food, determining it to taste better than it looked.

"You know, we don't even know your name." Jake said.

"Neytiri te Ckaha Mo'at'ite."

"You're going to have to go a little slower than that."

"Neytiri"

Kat smiled at the other woman. "It's nice to meet you Neytiri." Jake nodded his agreement, taking a bite of the food in front of him.

"What are these?"

Neytiri glanced at Jake before going back to her own food, muttering "Teylu."

"Teeyluu"

"Yes. You would call, beetle larvae." Jake nearly spit out is latest bite of teylu, giving Neytiri and dry look before gently laying the rest of his dinner on the ground.

"That's some damn good teylu. Grandma's teylu."

Kat giggled at her friend, heaping more teylu onto his leaf plate. "Please, have more." Neytiri followed her example and the two easily tripled the amount of teylu in front of Jake. He glared at the bugs as he ate them, switching his glare to Kat every few seconds.

When all three were done, Neytiri lead them up into the tree, climbing higher and higher until they were easily 100ft in the air. She jumped to a smaller branch and swung into a woven hammock hanging just below. Following her example, Jake and Kat dropped into their own hammocks, considerably less gracefully than the Na'vi. Laying down, Kat looked at Jake and he gazed back. Smiling slightly, she whispered a 'good night' before pulling the hammock to close around her and closing her eyes. Letting out a deep breath of air, she allowed herself to let go and travel back down the coloured vortex.


	5. Chapter Four

"Jake. Jake." Grace, Kat, Norm, and Max surrounded link unit 4, watching worriedly for any sign of Jake regaining consciousness. The link had turned off moments ago, but Jake was proving hard to wake. "Jake!"

Grace shinned a light in his eyes as he slowly blinked them open, slapping his cheek gently. "Come on back, kid. Damn, you were dug in like a tick."

"Aw man Doc. You are never going to believe where we are." Jake grinned as Kat helped him slowly sit up, sitting behind him on the gel 'mattress' for him to lean against. "Did you tell them yet, Kitty?"

"No, I had to make sure you hadn't killed yourself on the way back, idiot."

"That doesn't matter! Are the avatars safe?" The two spoke at the same time.

"We're with the natives."

"The Omaticaya took us in!"

* * *

Dinner at the base that night was a loud affair. Kat and Jake were starved from their adventures, shoveling food in as fast as they could while Grace told anyone who would listen the part of the story she knew.

"The last thing we see is this Marine's ass, being hauled away by this chick, disappearing into the undergrowth, an angry thanator on their tail!"

"Sometimes I wonder what Jakey would do without me."

"I'd be dead."

"You'd be dead."

Grace leaned forward onto the table. "For reasons I cannot fathom, the Omaticaya have chosen you. I mean, Kat I understand. But you, Jake? God help us all."

* * *

"One more time, Jake." Grace held a data pad in front of the rolling Marine's face.

"Dragon lady."

"Mo'at, dummy." Kat slapped the back of his head.

"Fine, Mo'at."

Grace switched the picture. "Eytucan."

"Eytukan"

"He's the clan leader, right?"

"Right, Kat. And Mo'at is the spiritual leader." Another picture.

Kat spoke up first, "Tsu'tey."

"He'll be the next clan leader, and –" One more picture flip.

"Neytiri."

"She'll be the next spiritual leader. They'll become a mated pair. Now hurry up you two, clan life starts early." Kat moved to her own link unit and lay down. The lid closed slowly, then she was on her way.

* * *

Neytiri was already gone when Kat opened her eyes, and Jake was just crawling out of his hammock. He reached a hand down to help Kat, than they were both wandering through the massive tree. Na'vi children were following them, giggling, trying to catch hold of one of their tails. Kat was waving her tail around, just out of reach, tickling the top of a head or a stomach before moving it away again. When the children had been following them for 10 minutes, Jake suddenly spun around roaring. The children squealed, but didn't run away, only moving when Neytiri rode up leading another pa'li. She threw the rope to Jake and Kat, than turned her mount around, expecting them to follow.

They ended up in a nice sized clearing, giving them plenty of room to practice riding. Neytiri left her pa'li free to graze as she explained the basics of riding. "Shahaylu is bond between pa'li and rider. You think what to do, and she will follow. You are connected, mind to mind. You are one with pa'li. The people will bond with many pa'li in life. You will practice with Na'lane. She is gentle, good start. Mount Jakesully."

Kat watched as her best friend mounted gracelessly, scooting around on the pa'li's broad back until comfortable. When he was settled Neytiri brought the animal's antenna closer to Jake. He moved his queue over his shoulder and grabbed the end, connecting the pink tendrils of man and beast. The pa'li whinnied, tossing her head at the sudden connection, slowly calming down as Neytiri patted her side.

"That is shahaylu. Feel her breath, her heartbeat. Feel her strong legs. When you are ready, you think what you want her to do. For now, you speak out loud."

Jake closed his eyes in concentration, feeling the beast underneath him. He shifted once more before saying, "Forward!" The pa'li surged forward, knocking Jake out of his seat and onto the muddy ground. Kat was laughing so hard she was clutching her stomach as Neytiri ran to catch the pa'li.

"Keep laughing, Kitty. Wait for your turn." She stuck her tongue out at him.

"Katstone, now you." Kat hopped up on the animal, connecting their queues once she was settled. She concentrated on the pa'li's breathing first, slowing down her own until matched that of her mount. As her breathing slowed, her heartbeat did too, falling in sync with Na'lane. She slowly opened her eyes. "Forward Na'lane."

The pa'li surged forward again, just as fast as before. Kat was barely able to keep her seat, squeezing with her legs as to not slide backwards. They were heading straight for Jake, who was still sitting in the mud. His eyes widened at the danger and he scrambled to get out of the way as Kat yelled for the pa'li to stop. When she did it was so sudden Kat went flying over her head and into the bushes. She blew stray pieces of hair out of her eyes, wiggling to get free. The first chance she had she was going to find someone who could help her get the stupid locks out of her face for good. Jake was laughing when she joined him, so she reached down and grabbed a handful of mud, shoving it in his face as retaliation.

Two warriors rode up then, stopping in front of the avatars. Their pa'li stomped the ground a few times before settling. Tsu'tey scoffed from his seat on the animal. "You should go away. Dreamwalkers do not belong here."

"Eh, you'd miss us." Jake attempted to wipe the mud from his body. "I knew you could speak English."

Tsu'tey switched to Na'vi. _"This alien will learn nothing, a rock sees more. His female is little better."_

_ "No one can learn if you never give them a chance, warrior. You should leave us to our practice." _

Neytiri slapped the hindquarters of Tsu'tey's mount, causing the pa'li to surge forward. The two warriors left as she studied the female willing to stand up to the Omaticaya's best warrior. "Again Katstone."

* * *

It took a week of hardcore training before either Kat or Jake could stay on the pa'li for short distances. Kat almost had the hang of it, moving with the animal and learning to listen to Na'lane's suggestions. Jake still fell off half the time, but he was good at keeping up with the pa'li's emotions. Most days he knew when to call it a night for the gentle creature.

When they returned to their bodies that night, Jake had another meeting with Quaritch and Kat was instructed to report to the bio lab early the next morning. So she headed back to her room and showered off the day's dirt. She attempted to wait up for Jake, reading one of the few books she brought with her from Earth, but soon enough her eyes were drooping and she fell asleep.

The next morning dawned bright and early. Kat quietly got dressed and packed a small bag for both her and Jake. She moved his wheelchair closer to his bed before exiting the room and heading for the bio lab. They were quickly packing up everything needed for a short stay in the mountains, double checking lists and loading up Trudy's Samson 16. She would fly them out to the mobile link unit and stay on as emergency transportation or supply runner. Most of the lab was already packed when Jake came rolling through the doors.

"Where are we going?"

"Getting the hell out of dodge. I won't have Selfridge and Quaritch breathing down all our necks." Grace grabbed a microscope, popping the protruding scope back in with her hand. "There's a mobile link up in the mountains. That's where we're headed."

Norm perked up at the word 'mountains'. "The Hallelujah Mountains?"

"The one and only."

"Yes! We're going to the mountains. We're going to the mountains." Norm danced around the lab, flaunting his new found work site. He stopped facing Jake. "The Hallelujah Mountains? Legendary floating mountains of Pandora? Know about them?"

"Norm! Quit being pissy! Grab that box and let's go." Kat glared at the other scientist. She had just about had it with his new attitude about not being picked. The next time a hungry Palulukan attacks, she'll make sure to leave it all to him.

They all piled into the front of the Samson 16, Norm and Grace's avatar bodies lying prone and strapped to the back. They closed off the glass door, and enjoyed the flight without the restricted vision given by the exo-pacts.

Her first view of the Hallelujah Mountains sent Kat reeling. Steam from the waterfalls smoothed the rocks edges and made everything seem dream-like. The mountains were tethered by nothing more than a few vines hanging down; many not connected at all, just floating in the low gravity. She couldn't wait to bond with her ikran so she could explore all those out of reach places.

They landed on one of the bigger mountains. The clearing they touched down on was at the edge of the cliff and just big enough for the Samson16 and the mobile link. The grass was high and thick and a waterfall shot off into the distance not 10 feet away.

"Thank you for flying Air Pandora. Have a nice day."

Grace headed out first and everyone else piled out after her. Kat walked behind Jake, helping push when he got stuck in the uneven terrain, with Norm right behind them. Trudy was still shutting down the Samson 16. The mobile link was a small place; consisting of two buildings no bigger than a singlewide trailer hooked together in the middle by a small hallway. One side was filled with link units; the other had the beds and tiny living space. All and all, it would be a crowed few weeks.

"Okay Jake, you're in the one on the end. Norm I need you to run his link."

"What?!" Norm shouted.

"Is there a problem with that?"

Norm stormed around in the small place. "You know what? Yes! There is a problem with that! It should be me in there! I'm the one who trained three years for this mission, not him! I thought I was going to be here for more than some…interspecies booty call." At the last word Norm pushed past Kat and disappeared back outside. Kat glanced at the two people in front of her, waiting for someone to speak again.

"Kat, you're right here. I'll operate both your links today."

* * *

The next day Neytiri led Jake and Kat to the very top of Hometree, watching how they moved through the braches. They stopped on a thick branch, higher than Jake or Kat had been yet. She could see waterfalls in the distance; so far away they looked like blue string. A sharp cry brought Kat's attention back to Neytiri.

The leaves above them trembled and shook as more bird calls sounded. Suddenly, a huge form broke through the foliage, back winging quickly to land in front of Neytiri. Jake jumped back. "Holy shit."

"Do not look her in the eye. She will attack." Neytiri ran a hand over the head of the ikran, feeding it a piece of meat. "This is Seze. Ikran is not pa'li. Once shahaylu is made, ikran will fly with one taronyu, one hunter, whole life. Neytiri bonded with the animal, as if in demonstration. Checking the leather straps, she swung onto the ikran's back, pulling a strange headband over her eyes. "To become taronyu, you must choose ikran, and he must choose you."

Kat laughed, clinging to Jake's arm in her excitement. "When do we get to do that?"

"When you are ready." Neytiri smiled. "Katstone, you learn fast. You will learn from Tsu'tey now. Find him." With that said, the Na'vi woman gave another cry and dove off the branch with the ikran. Jake and Kat rushed to the edge, watching the woman and beast glide easily through the air.

* * *

Tsu'tey was already waiting by the time Kat got back down from the tree. She had left Jake and Neytiri on a branch for his Na'vi lesson. Tsu'tey studied Kat as she walked towards him; she had the balance needed to run through the forest and the grace of a born Na'vi, but she would need to build on strength and stamina if she had any hope of keeping up with the warrior. He held out a dull and dirty knife as Kat reached her new teacher. She glanced between the object and Tsu'tey, confused.

_"You know how to ride. Now you learn to hunt. A hunter must know her weapon. Clean and sharpen the blade, female."_

Kat accepted the blade carefully. Her new teacher moved to a log, pulling out his own weapons to work on and promptly ignored her. Kat sighed, she had a feeling she wasn't getting the easy way out from instructions with him. She looked at the other hunters around her; many were using some type of stone in smooth strokes along the edge of the blade. Grabbing a stone off the ground Kat choose a log and began her strokes.

After a while nothing was happening and she was becoming very frustrated with this stupid method of teaching. Kat squawked in surprise when the knife vanished from her hands seconds later. She looked up to see Tsu'tey glaring at her, holding her knife in a tight fist.

_"A dirty blade does not sharpen skxawng."_

_ "You never showed me what to do."_

_ "Sky people do not learn. You will not learn. This is pointless. Go home demon." _Tsu'tey dropped the knife and stalked off.

Kat glared after the infuriating male. "Fine then, don't help. I'll figure it out on my own." She studied the knife and the dried mud caked all over it. If it wasn't for the knife being made of the hard claw of an ikran, it would have rusted completely by now, but if it was not metal, water could be used to clean it without harm to the blade. But she would need something to scrub. The fabric of her loincloth would work, but there was already too little there in Kat's opinion. Maybe a rough leaf would work.

Collecting her knife and stone, Kat left in search of a textured plant and a river for water. She tried to stay away from anything with three points, following the poisonous rules from Earth. The settled on a plant with leaves as big as her hands, feathered at the edges and coloured a blue-green combination. She soaked the knife in a small stream before working at the mud with the leaf. Slowly, the mud began flaking off. Kat was covered in mud and water and had to return to the plant for more leaves three times, and the wet leaves stung against her skin near the end, but the knife was finally clean.

The sharpening seemed like the lesser of two evils now. The stone was easy enough to hold, the textured skin providing instant grip, but the knife had no such skin. And for being a dull blade, it could still cut. Kat returned to Hometree tired, sore, and bleeding, but she had finished the task set by her teacher. And now she was going to find her teacher, if only to prove that she could learn.

Tsu'tey was watching over younger Na'vi as they practiced with their bows. Kat stalked up to him, holding the blade in his face. Tsu'tey took the blade and looked it over carefully before tossing it back to Kat. He also tossed some leather cords. _"Tomorrow you will make the sheath. Practice with these."_

* * *

**Yay! Chapter 4 up! I'm pretty sure a lot of you were expecting Tsu'tey to become Kat's teacher, cause isn't that how they always go? I think he would teach her well enough, because Mo'at is one scary Na'vi when she wants to be, but I definitely know he would not make it easy on a dreamwalker. Hence the no direction approach. ;P**


	6. Chapter Five

Making a sheath for her knife was just as hard as cleaning the knife itself, except braiding was now involved. Kat had practiced the rest of the day and into the night, squeezing as much braiding as she could before having to stop the link. Then she practiced more at the mobile unit. None of that was helping her make the real thing today.

Her sheath looked more like a child's craft project than a tool of a hunter. She shrieked in frustration, throwing the mangled leather to the ground. If she couldn't braid the stupid leather, how was she supposed to be able to braid her hair? Kat wanted to learn that skill soonest, tired of pushing the black strands out of her face every five minutes.

A Na'vi woman settled on the ground next to Kat, picking up the sheath and handing it back to the dreamwalker. "You tie loose. Bad. Tight tie good."

_"My fingers are throbbing from tying it that tight."_

_ "Your fingers will become tough. Tie tighter."_

Sighing, Kat undid the leather, starting from the beginning. The woman beside her repositioned Kat's hands, tightening the strips around her fingers as she tied the first knot. Then she brought out her own work, a detailed bead necklace, and began knotting, keeping one eye of Kat's hands.

_"I'm Kat."_

The woman nodded; a quick, short movement. _"Dreamwalker Kat. I am Le'quani."_

_ "You seem to know a lot about braiding."_

_ "I make jewelry and braid hair. My fingers are very tough."_

_ "Could you teach me?!"_ Kat stared at the woman, the small braid forming between her hands lying forgotten. Finally, a way to keep her hair contained. Le'quani started at the sudden exclamation.

_"My hair keeps falling in my eyes. It's very tiresome."_ Kat explained, grinning sheepishly. Le'quani smiled.

_"You finish sheath, I will braid your hair."_

* * *

Le'quani kept Kat at her braiding for hours. She would check Kat's work every once and a while, making her redo what wasn't good enough. When Kat finally had an acceptable sheath, Le'quani switched her to a simple braided necklace with a few scattered beads. Though the design was simpler, threading the beads put the necklace on level with the sheath. Afterwards, Le'quani led Kat to a spring pool and the two women soaked in the hot water. Kat happily submerged her sore hands.

_"You did good work Kat. I will braid your hair now."_

Kat moved to sit in front of the other woman. There was a natural stone seat just under the water both used. Le'quani ran her fingers through the damp locks and began twining them into thin braids. She even redid the braid protecting Kat's queue. After she tied the last knot, Le'quani took the necklace Kat made and tied it around her neck.

_"You are done." _Kat ran her hands through her new braids. The front braids were woven so they ley back on her head, easily hooking behind her pointed ears. There were no beads to add colour, but also to not click together. She needed to learn to be silent in the forest before adding decorations that could give away her position. Her hair now reached just pasted her shoulders and was much lighter against her neck.

_"Thank you Le'quani. I must find my teacher now, but I will see you soon."_

Le'quani waved goodbye and stayed in the spring as Kat disappeared to seek out Tsu'tey. She found him with the trainees from the day before, practicing with their bows again. He inspected the sheath closely, stated it was sloppy but usable for a beginner, and sent her to grab a spare bow. She took a stance, breathing deep before pulling back on the string like she had seen other Na'vi do. She barely got the string to her chest before it snapped back in place, stinging her arm on its way. Tsu'tey moved her limbs into the correct position without the bow, than instructed her to practice the stance and pulling back the bow.

* * *

Mornings after her success with the sheath, Tsu'tey would lead Kat into the trees for a natural obstacle course. She was pretty sure he chose the hardest routes on purpose and it was even more infuriating when he finished without even breathing heavily.

_"How…the hell…do you…do that?"_

_ "You are weak, demon. I am not."_ He refused to use Kat's name, instead referring to her as 'demon' or 'dreamwalker'. He wouldn't even call her 'student'. Scoffing once more at her panting form, Tsu'tey sprung for the trees, leading the way back. He moved faster on the return trip, quickly fading out of Kat's line of sight. She got lost that day, and every day after. Tsu'tey's training did work though; Kat's feet became tougher from running over the rough bark, her stamina grew with each workout, she was faster, and she learned the layout of the forest until she knew every tree and plant instantly. What was, Kat suspected, Tsu'tey's way of trying to get her to quit while still 'teaching' her actually made her learn more, quicker.

When Kat reached Hometree again, she was exhausted and ready for a nap, but she knew that was a no-go. So she found her teacher at the shooting range and spent the last few hours until noon meal working on her stance. Soon enough, she could pull back the bow with ease, arms and legs positioned perfectly. So Tsu'tey switched her to arrows and laughed when she completely missed the target.

* * *

Kat sighed, twisting the mangled piece of wood in her hands. If you're going to shoot arrows, you have to be able to make arrows. Damn Tsu'tey and his hands on learning. A male Na'vi named Nutat had shown her the basics and promised to come back when she could whittle the wood into a perfect shaft, but the perfect shaft was long in coming. Dropping the stick in the bad pile, Kat sighed again before trying again on a fresh piece of wood.

Le'quani looked up from her work to her friend. _"You're not happy Kat? I thought Tsu'tey was allowing you to shoot now?"_

_ "He is, and he's even teaching me tracking too. It's just…it'd be nicer if he actually looked at me once in a while, said a 'good job'. Or even just used my name!"_

_ "It is hard for Tsu'tey to trust the Sky People again. After all they took from him last time."_

_ "What happened last time?"_

Both women's work lay forgotten now as Le'quani began her story. _"Tsu'tey was not always meant to mate Neytiri. Eytukan and Mo'at had another daughter, Sylwanin. She was Neytiri's older sister, and Tsu'tey's first mate-to-be."_

_ "What happened to her?"_

_ "She and two other children had attacked one of your Sky People's _machine_. They ran to the school, but the Sky People followed. All three were shot there, and killed. Both Tsu'tey and Neytiri saw it all. That was the last any of us saw Sky People. Until you and Jakesully arrived."_

Kat shivered. Her skin was covered in goosepimples from the sad tale. _"That's horrible. No wonder he doesn't like me. Though I can't say I'm surprised."_

_"Enough talk of the past."_ Le'quani held beads and leather strips to Kat. _"Would you like to make armbands with me?"_

* * *

Kat's mornings would start with her forest run with Tsu'tey, the two stopping in the trees to practice tracking. Some days Tsu'tey would set her after a syaksyuk or yerik, scowling when she frightened the animal away with too much noise. Other days he would hide in the trees himself and wait for her to find him.

When they returned to Hometree Tsu'tey would abandon Kat for his other students and Kat would find Le'quani. Together the two women would make jewelry and clothes or Le'quani would teach Kat about the softer jobs of the Na'vi. She learned to cook and gather and which plants could help if she was injured away from Hometree. Which plants could kill if fighting against a predator or the Sky People. She now sported two armbands of her own make, and had given Jake one as well, along with a necklace strung from shells. They were both so busy now Kat and Jake barely saw each other, other than when Grace forced them down to each at the mobile unit.

Norm's attitude had greatly improved though, helped along by their very own pilot. Grace, Kat, and Jake had walked in on the two of them 'doing things' multiple times. It was becoming awkward to go to bed. Kat thought Jake being able to convince Mo'at to let Grace and Norm into Hometree helped a lot.

* * *

_"I heard you in the bushes Kat. Again."_

Kat scowled and rose to her feet. She could track the animals of Pandora for miles without them detecting her, but she still couldn't sneak up on her teacher. _"What am I doing wrong still?"_

_ "You step in the wrong places. You listen to your head instead of your instincts." _Tsu'tey had come a long way with Kat these last two months. Though he still refused to acknowledge Jake with anything but scorn, he grudgingly accepted his student's progress and determination. _"Your body knows where to go, trust it."_

She had improved greatly with her skills, and had made close friends within the clan, but she still wasn't allowed to make a kill. Tsu'tey had told her the forest said she wasn't ready. Not that Kat minded the extended time she could study the study the different animals, ferrying her notes back and forth to Grace. But she wanted to catch her ikran. She wanted to be part of The People.

Tsu'tey disappeared into the trees again. Okay. Trust her body. She could do that. Tsu'tey left little to mark his passage through the forest; a rustling leaf here, a slight indentation there. It was taking less and less time for Kat to find her teacher, and he was always listening for her arrival. If he wasn't stretching his hearing so much, Kat would have been able to surprise him more than a few times. In truth the only reason he continued these tracking sessions was so he could watch her move through the trees. So he could watch the way her strong muscles moved under her cyan skin, the way her black hair rippled behind her. Watching her at Hometree was harder to go undetected, but all the more rewarding to see her smiles as she played with the children or the way the light of the evening meal fire lit up the red beads threaded through her hair and drew his gaze to her lips. He would find himself smiling when she was near and thinking constantly of her when she was not.

Suddenly, Tsu'tey lurched forward from a new weight at his back.

_ "Gotcha!"_

* * *

One morning found teacher and student trudging through the forest covered in mud. Kat had slipped on some moss and took Tsu'tey tumbling down with her. Needless to say, the male was not very happy, so they found a river to wash off in.

"I said I was sorry."

"It was a child's mistake. It should not have happened." Tsu'tey glared.

Kat's tail whipped in agitation, the leather cord wrapped around it shinning in the sun. She was mad at herself for slipping, but it wasn't all her fault. Sure she wasn't watching where she was going close enough, but she was a little distracted by the view in front of her. Na'vi clothes didn't leave much to the imagination and Tsu'tey had a pretty nice ass.

The water was clear and blue, temperature perfect for a quick swim. Kat climbed to the top of the closest rock and jumped, arching her body and diving deep into the water. She floated under the surface, eyes closed as she felt the dry mud soften and flake off of her body. Smiling wide, she resurfaced, blinking the remaining water from her eyes. She was now behind the rock, out of sight of her teacher. Kat carefully peaked around the rock to see Tsu'tey standing waist deep in the river, scrubbing the mess from his skin. Kat grinned taking a deep breath; she dived down again and slowly swam behind Tsu'tey. With only her head from the nose up above the water, she crept closer and closer silently.

Tsu'tey spoke before she could surprise him. "What are you do-" A wave of water cut off his speaking, leaving him gasping and sputtering. When he could breathe again, Tsu'tey glared at his wayward student. "What was that?"

"You're supposed to splash back." Kat giggled. When Tsu'tey just stared at her in confusion, she splashed him again. "It's a water war, Tsu'tey! Come on!"

One more wave had Tsu'tey finally fighting back, sending a wave so big it pushed Kat under. She resurfaced sputtering and laughing, gleefully sending more water into her teacher's face. The water war got more intense from there, water flying everywhere. Kat was laughing, swimming to try and avoid the worst waves; Tsu'tey was following her path tirelessly, smiling wide.

The war only ended when Tsu'tey was able to grab hold of Kat's arms and push her under the water's surface. Thinking he'd won, he allowed her to resurface in front of him as he sent her a smug look. Smug herself, Kat spit the mouthful of water she acquired directly at his nose. "I win."

Tsu'tey was still smiling softly; eye's running over Kat's face as he watched the different water drops fall. Slowly he cupped her face, drawing their bodies closer until their lips just barely touched. A spark ignited and soon they were kissing passionately in the middle of the river, wading on the water to stay afloat. Kat hooked one arm around Tsu'tey's neck, her other hand running across his chest. It was quickly trapped between them when Tsu'tey wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling them even closer together.

Kat was ecstatic. She had been falling for the hardened warrior since he first looked at her with pride in his eyes. The first time she had hit the bull's eye on the target. Kissing him now, being pressed against his body, was the perfect mixture of hard and soft. She hardly noticed she was in a river anymore, more focused on the male in front of her than the motions required to float. Tsu'tey was taking most of her weight anyway.

When he wrapped her queue around his hand and pulled gently, Kat gasped in pleasure, sharp tingles running down her spine. Tsu'tey used the distraction to slip is tongue pasted her lips and then another battle was being fought, neither one willing to lose dominance of the kiss.

After they parted for air, Tsu'tey pushed Kat away, shaking his head as if out of a daze. Worried Kat watched him, reaching back out to cup his face. Tsu'tey flinched away from her soft touch.

"No."

The sudden English shocked Kat enough to pull away, wading the water on her own again.

"I am to mate Neytiri. This cannot happen Kat. I am not free to give my heart to another."

"Tsu'tey." She cupped his face again, holding on tighter when he tried to swim away. "Tsu'tey, I understand. You put the good of the clan first and I respect you even more because of it. You will make a great Olo'eyktan."

Kat swam for shore, squeezing the water from her hair and clothes when she reached dry land. She picked up her weapons and was about to disappear back into the trees when she turned back around. "Same place for our morning run tomorrow, teacher?"

Tsu'tey nodded from his place in the middle of the river.

Smiling, Kat melted into the shadows and headed home.

* * *

A month after that day Kat was tracking a yerik yet again. The animal had stopped to graze in the rain, not noticing the predator in the shadows. When she drew back her bow, she was pleasantly surprised when Tsu'tey didn't immediately stop her. Sighting down the arrow, she drew in a slow breath, releasing the arrow when she released the air held in her lungs. The arrow flew true, hitting the yerik right between its front legs. Running forward she tried to sooth the beast, rubbing small circles onto its neck.

Kat unsheathed the blade at her waist, thrusting it deep into the chest of the yerik. As its breathing slowed she recited the prayer all Na'vi said upon the death of the hunters kill, sending the spirit of the beast on to Eywa. Tsu'tey dropped from the trees beside her. "I see you Sister and I thank you. Your spirit goes with Eywa. Your body stays behind to become part of The People."

Kat looked to her teacher as she removed her arrow from the yerik's body. He nodded sharply and she smiled.

She was ready.


	7. Chapter Six

The trek to Mons Veritatis, the home of the wild ikran, was a dangerous one if not a long one. Tsu'tey led the four trainees up the floating mountains, small rocks cracking off the pass under the pa'li's feet. They dismounted the pa'li at the base of Mon Veritatis where everyone would have to climb from there on. Tsu'tey gathered the small group around him, giving a few last pointers on how to find the right ikran and subdue it with the meresh'ti cau'pla . Kat refrained from wiping the sweat beading on her forehead, not wanting to destroy the yellow 'v' painted there. All four of the trainees had been painted such the past few days, a symbol of reaching the end of their training. A symbol of being ready for the Iknimaya.

Boulders connected by vines and tree roots were the only way up, and it was a very long way up. Kat was suddenly very grateful for Tsu'tey's love to flip through branches. She concentrated on the next handhold and hoped Jake, who was climbing right behind her, could catch her if she slipped. The last boulder was barely big enough to hold all six of them, and tilted threatening with the shifting weight.

Tsu'tey stood first. _"Wait for the right moment and leap for a vine."_

The waiting was easy enough, and Tsu'tey made the mad jump look easy as well. Then again Tsu'tey made everything look easy. Steeling herself, Kat watched the vines drift in front of her and jumped for the nearest one. Latching on with her hands, she wrapped the vine around her foot and used her toes to help her climb up the swinging surface.

And they weren't even at the ikran rookery after that. The mountain they were headed for was still across a giant chasm, connected by four giant roots forming a makeshift bridge. Halfway across Neytiri swooped through on her ikran, gesturing the Na'vi hello. Kat mirrored the movement.

The last leg of the journey was by far the easiest, besides riding the pa'li. They simply climbed rocks long formed into stairs, past a waterfall and into a cave.

Ikran flew as far as the eye could see, hundreds of the beautiful creatures twisting and turning through the air. Kat leaned over the edge as far as she could without falling, eyes glued to the creatures. Jake grabbed her tail to pull her back as Neytiri landed not a foot from where Kat was crouching.

_"Get in line." _Tsu'tey walked among the trainees, looking each in the eye before moving on. He nodded shallowly to Kat and turned his attention to Jake. "Jakesully will go first."

Kat grabbed Jake's bow as he held it out, gripping the wood tightly as her best friend vanished behind another waterfall.

"You wish him to survive, yes?" Tsu'tey spoke into her ear. "Then you should prey for the fool now." She glared at him before removing her own bow and setting both on a small outcropping of rock. Then she hurried after Jake.

"How will I know if one chooses me?"

"He will try to kill you."

Well shit. Tsu'tey never told Kat that little tidbit. She wrapped her arms tightly around Jake's waist, hugging him from behind. "You better come back idiot."

"Don't worry Kitty. This stuff is easy after Basic." Jake patted her arm once and pulled away, heading out to face the waiting ikran. The first few ikran flew away; some were bolder, hissing at Jake but not attacking. Eventually they flew away too. One roared, a teal ikran with a purple colouring on his wing bones and dappled brown running down the length of his body. Jake hissed back. Kat attempted to grin, but her lips wouldn't form the shape. Jake had found his ikran, and now he needed to get close enough to form tsaheylu.

Jake swung the meresh'ti cau'pla, successfully wrapping it around the ikran's snout. Quickly, he jumped on the animals back, holding on tight when the ikran attempted to throw him off.

"Tsaheylu Jake!"

_"Don't be afraid, warrior. Do as the female says."_

"Make the bond!"

When Jake released one arm to try to form the bond the ikran was able to throw him from his back. Jake rolled, flipping over the edge of the cliff. Kat gasped, clutching at Tsu'tey's arm. Tsu'tey looked down in surprise, the sudden feel of the female against him cutting off his laughter.

Jake jumped back on the ikran's back, pinning the beast down and holding his head fast with his feet. Fighting to keep his hold, Jake took the ikran's antenna and connected their queues.

It was over, and Jake was alive.

"Yeah. You're mine now. Right?" Neytiri slowly moved forward as Jake unwrapped the meresh'ti cau'pla.

"The first flight seals the bond. Go!" Jake dove off the cliff on the back of his ikran, whooping with excitement. Neytiri soon followed. The other two trainees found and bonded their ikran easily and were now flying through the air along with Jake and Neytiri. Then it was Kat's turn.

_"Remember all I have taught you. Find the one that is yours and form tsaheylu quickly."_

Nodding, Kat unwound her meresh'ti cau'pla and stepped forward.

The ikran had slowly returned after the last Na'vi's go. There were about 20 on the ledge again, staring at the blue female, waiting to see what she would do. Kat lunged to the first ikran on her left, a pretty purple and orange animal. It immediately flew off so she looked to the next.

There were only two ikran left now, a mostly brown female and a large male striped pink and purple over deep indigo skin. Kat hissed at them. Both hissed back simultaneously, but only the male stayed; the female flew off. Breathing deep, Kat turned to her ikran. He lunged before she was completely ready, knocking the meresh'ti cau'pla out of her hands and off the cliff. Now defenseless, Kat watched the ikran carefully, circling with the beast. He roared and lunged, Kat darting between his attacks. When there was an opening she quickly grabbed an antenna and swung onto his broad back. Kat wrapped her arms and legs around his neck and interlocked her wrists and ankles as the ikran bucked. He lifted onto is feet and wobbled around, slipping on some stray moss. Both ikran and rider fell over the edge, queues still separated.

_"Kat!"_ Tsu'tey sprang for the edge, eyes searching for the falling woman. She could not die like this! He was about to fetch his own ikran when a whooping laugh filled his ears and Kat came flying past Tsu'tey's head, not even a foot away from the mountain's side. He smiled himself, hopped on Fukè, and flew.

* * *

They spent the rest of the day practicing different formations, fitting their ikran with saddles, and flying. Always flying. Kat never wanted to set foot on the ground again. She was born to fly like this, to be one with the animal beneath her. Her and Qui'te were the perfect pair; Kat barely had to think what she wanted to do before Qui'te was already turning. It was exhilarating.

At sunset, they returned to Hometree. Tomorrow, they hunt.

* * *

Kat was in the air, urging the talioang to stampede with deep dives and yelling. Just like Iknimaya, killing a talioang was a rite of passage. Jake had already felled his beast, and the other two new hunters were to hunt another day, so it was just her. She circled for an opening, looking for a way to hit that small spot between the head and shoulder. Their armor was too thick to pierce anywhere else.

She was starting to lose hope when a smaller talioang veered from the main heard. It was a female, but a good size and no clue of sickness. Following the animal, Kat shot as it turned back towards the herd. Her arrow met its mark and the talioang stumbled, landing on the ground dead. Whooping, she circled back around, waiting for Tsu'tey as leader to call an end to the hunt.

The three felled talioang were quickly butchered and separated onto different reed nets. Experienced ikran makto would carry the meat back to Hometree, everyone else flying ahead. A few hunters would return in a few days, after scavengers had emptied the carcasses, and carry the bones back to be made into tools. Tonight, they would dance for the gift Eywa had given them; tomorrow, Jake and Kat would go through the Uniltaron, and finally become a part of The People.

* * *

Kat dressed for the occasion. Le'quani rebraided her hair, added red feathers amongst the beads as Kat finished a final project. She had been working on the necklace for weeks, gathering the gold and purple feathers, weaving them and white stones into a thin leather braid. As part of the clan she could finally wear more colours, and a proper chest covering. One that hide more than just her nipples. This necklace would do the trick, but still leave her body free to shift and move.

Neytiri covered her in the bright sap of the Hometree, a spiritual and physical reminder of what she was joining. Of what she was becoming. Once the last stripes were painted on her skin, Neytiri held out a small container. Reaching in, Kat let the colourful arachnid inside crawl over her hand, sinking its stinger into the tender skin between thumb and forefinger. Then Kat descended the stair-like braches into a great cavern made of roots under the great tree. She crouched in the center of a group of Na'vi; her teacher and elders.

Mo'at stood, waving a burning branch around Kat's head. She pulled the smoke around her body, breathing in the cloud and pressing it into her hair and skin.

_"Oh wise worm, eater of the Sacred Tree. Bless this worthy hunter," _When the smoke dispersed Mo'at picked up a bowl, pulling a small, glowing white worm out._ "With true vision." _

Kat opened her mouth, allowing the wiggling insect to fall in, and swallowed it whole. There was a prick on her tongue and everything became fuzzy, then darkness.

* * *

_The sky was lit with colours, but not the soft, beautiful colours Kat had come to know. This sky was lit with fire and smoke, with the shadows of falling ikran and the riders on their backs._

_Giant machines were everywhere, firing at the blue natives, taking no heed of children or elderly. Kat turned from the sight._

_Behind her Quaritch held Eytukan by his queue, his lackeys Wainfleet and Fike holding Mo'at and Neytiri. Quaritch smiled at her and together all three slit the throat of their captives. Kat screamed silently, unable to do anything to help her leader or her friend._

_To her left, Hometree was on fire, screams coming from within the flames. She was about to run to help when Fike grabbed her. He twisted her arms painfully behind her back and turned her back to Quaritch. This time the Colonel was holding Jake, and Wainfleet had Tsu'tey._

_There was no quick death this time. Quaritch drew it out, randomly creating shallow and deep cuts along Jake's torso, stabbing him through the arms and legs. Jake was screaming, begging Kat with his eyes to end it. Suddenly, Quaritch sliced his blade through Jake's queue and tossed him harshly to the ground to bleed out slowly. Then he turned to Tsu'tey._

"_No!"_

* * *

Kat woke alone in the root cavern. Slowly she rose to her feet, using the walls for balance until she was steady. She shuddered thinking back on her vision and started the long climb to the surface. Everyone stood as she exited the tree, following her with their eyes as she made her way to Eytukan. Kat stood in front of her new leader, bowing her head in respect.

_"You are now a daughter of the Omaticaya. You are now part of The People."_

Eytukan placed his hands on Kat shoulders, pressing down firmly. Mo'at was next, followed by Neytiri and Jake, who had just finished his own Uniltaron. She turned her head at the pressure on her shoulder blades, seeing Tsu'tey smile softly at her. She smiled back, a few tears slipping down her cheeks. One by one every Na'vi placed their hands on another, connecting the entire clan to their new member. Connecting the entire clan as a whole.

Kat was a part of this now. This was her family, her friends, people she would willingly die for and she knew they would do the same.

The celebration lasted far into the night. They feasted on her kill from the day before and drank until no one could walk properly. Jake and Neytiri had disappeared at some point, but Kat paid it no mind. She was too focused on the dancing, twirling in circles with Le'quani, eyes constantly darting to Tsu'tey's, laughing at his dazed expression. She finally passed out from the drink and exhaustion, snuggled in between two roots, her head resting on Le'quani's shoulder.

Gently, Tsu'tey carried her to her hammock.


End file.
